Archive for November 2014

The last bastion of monopoly bargaining is quickly disappearing in Wisconsin.  After December 13, Dane County public sector unions will be forced to earn dues money, instead of forcing workers to pay dues money.  The latest challenge to Act 10, which invalidated any contracts running until 2015 and 2016, will be enforced.  Steven Verburg has the story in…

There was another incident involving a teacher union official stealing thousands of dues dollars in another forced-dues state, New York.  The Empire State has mandatory, compulsory monopoly bargaining and forced dues.  Forced dues privileges are automatically demanded in every school district.  Teachers have no choice.  Pay up or be fired.  Steve Lieberman has the story at lohud.com. Rockland…

The Barnegat Education Association teacher union treasurer was arrested for theft after it was discovered that more than $20,000 in dues dollars were missing from the union’s accounts.  It is alleged the suspect used forced dues and union money to buy personal items for himself and other family members.   MaryAnn Spoto has the story on nj.com. The investigation…

Ben de Grow discusses performance-based pay systems and why they will attract the best teaching candidates, in the Greeley Tribune. The current system, in widespread use nationally, is broken and inefficient. It’s an industrial model built for a different era. The traditional salary schedule rewards teachers strictly for seniority and completed graduate-level education courses. Yet research consistently…

A New York charter school, run by United Federation of Teachers union officials, illustrates how even charter schools cannot flourish under a monopoly bargaining contact.  Originally developed as an innovative reform, to be run without union involvement and monopoly bargaining and bureaucracy, charter schools have had many successes.  Desperate to control who enters, stays and leaves…

Teacher union officials spent millions of dollars in an attempt to elect handpicked candidates willing to do their bidding, but most were soundly defeated in favor of candidates who will challenge teacher union power and win freedom for teachers and students.  Governor Scott Walker’s re-election will reinforce the changes Act 10 brought about in Wisconsin,…

Larry Sand, President of the California Teacher Empowerment Network, and relentless teacher union critic, tells the story of the great Philadelphia experiment, where the teacher union monopoly bargaining contract is circumvented and principals are given back their power to run their own schools.   The Philadelphia situation reflects clearly the destruction monopoly bargaining has brought about in education. …

Mike  Antonucci explores how California Teachers Association officials spend dues on the candidates of their choosing, not the candidates their members might choose. The California Teachers Association will end up throwing more than $10 million into this one race – most of it dues money. The union is flogging its activists to contact members, work phone…